One Arm Post

So today I am posting with one arm. You may be thinking thats kind of weird, but due to the circumstances it will have to work. Other than a bike race a visit to the ER and trying to do everthing with one arm June has been uneventful.

     So lets get started with the biggest news. Michelle, myself, and Peanut headed up to Tulsa on Friday the 10th of this month for the Tulsa Tough bike race. My race started at 8:30 that night. The night started out pretty good I was feeling pretty good in the pack and was able to move around whenever I needed to. My goal was to sit in until we got close to the end of the race and try a move then. Well with 5 laps to go the opportunity presented itself and I attacked with Ben from BOT to bridge up to 2 guys up the road. We stayed between the groups for 2 laps then it was groupo compacto. With 3 laps to go I started to try and position Nick and myself for the sprint, but the weather started to change. It started to sprinkle and the course began to get slick causing a pretty good pile up with 2 laps to go. I then decided since I wouldn't be there for the sprint anyways I would just take it easy and finish. With 1 lap to go the conditions got worse and the 30 guys or so in front of me started crashing left and right, so again I slowed my speed to stay safe and live to race another day. Well that was about the same time everthing went south I rounded an uphill corner and before I knew it my front wheel was sliding out. and I didn't have a chance of saving it. I struke the ground with my left shoulder taking the blow. As soon as I stood up I new what the damage was a broken colar bone.

Obviously this didn't work.

I made my way to the medical tent and received some information on how to get to a hospital. Michelle rushed me to the ER and they confirmed the bad news. I had broken it diagonally from the top outside to the lower inside of the bone. Therefore I am stuck in this sling for 2 to 4 more weeks.

Failure of the Power Balance led to this

The major pain from the break and crash are over and I am just stuck with the arm being imobilized for a while. I start to hurt around 3 in the afternoon, but manage to make it the last few hours of the day. I am allowed back on the trainer and as much as I hate that contraption it is all I have at the moment. Michelle has been taking great care of me and putting up with my complaining better than I can.

Which leads to trainer time

       The crash kind of threw a curveball in to the rest of the plans we had for this month, but we are enjoying the time at home. Mitch and Sarah are coming in town tomorrow an dwe are excited to see them. Michelle and Sarah are going to go shopping while Mitch and I go eat at the heart attack grill in downtown. Then we are all going to meet up to enjoy a Texas Rangers game that afternoon. They are headed home on Sunday and we will be headed up that way at the end of the month. Michelle is going to visit her family for the weekind of the 4th and I am headed to Colorado for the week.

Until the next post I will leave you with some pictures, most of them are of Peanut because I take her swimming at lunch everyday. Have a good day and thanks for reading. Also one more big thanks to my wife for taking care of me.

  

The Past Few Months

Over the past few months we have settled in to our new home and entered into the next wave of bike races. Since March I have done 2 stage races, a few road races, and a few crits. So I will start in March and work my way to the present.

-March-
Michelle and I headed up to Tulsa for the Salty Tall road race and crit on the 12th and 13th of March. I was excited to head to this race to get to race with all the guys from the team. We also got to see my family which was a lot of fun. Saturday was a road race that covered a hilly circuit we did 3 laps in very cold temperatures. To make this short our team missed the winning break and myself, Scotty B. and Momo ended up chasing for the last 1.5 laps to bring it back together for a sprint. We worked hard to get it close but in the end we didn't end up with much to show. On Sunday we had a crit and the weather was a little nicer. Our team tried several moves, but again we came up short in the end. At that time it was still early in the season, but I was very satisfied with my current fitness level.

 -April-

April started off busy with a race in Texarkana it consisted of a Road Race and a crit. There was a low turn out, but it was nice to get 2 hard days of racing in. I finished 5th in the road race and 3rd in the crit. Michell and Peanut went with me and it is always nice to have them along to chear me on. Keeping with our busy weekend for the next weekend in April we headed back up to Arkansas to enjoy family, friends, and our team race on Sunday the Lincoln Road Race. I got to pick up my MTB from Phat Tire Bike Shop and enjoyed riding it on Saturday with Doug, Cindy, Scott, and Caleb. That evening my parents had everyone over to grill out and catch up it was a blast. Here are a few pictures of us riding on the new trails in NWA close to blowing springs in Bella Vista.



My New MTB Garry Fisher Super Fly



Doug and I hitting up the trails



Caleb Scott and Cindy hitting up the trails



The next weekend was a big crit located here in Dallas and Caleb came down to race that weekend. It was a great venue with a dog park that overlooked the race course. Michelle really enjoyed being able to leave Peanut in the dog park and enjoy my bike race. We raced there Saturday and Sunday. I rode hard, but didn't have enough in the tank to finish the race either day. I guess better luck next year.

At the end or April we headed back to Texarkana to compete in a stage race that consisted of a Road Race, a Time Trial, and a crit. There was a low turn out, but it was nice to get 2 hard days of racing in. I finished 5th in the road race and 3rd in the crit, 4th in the time trial, and 5th overall. I was very pleased to see that my form had been coming around nicely with Joe Martin Stage Race being the next weekend.

-May-

May started out with me traveling up to NWA to compete in the Joe Martin Stage Race, unfortunately Michelle was not able to go with me since the race started on Thursday and she couldn't miss work. I headed up on Wednesday and got there in time to enjoy a easy ride with my dad and Caleb. Thursday morning I work up and headed out for an easy one hour spin with Scott, and Caleb, while we where riding we found this truck, and thought about how nice of a sponsor that would be.



New Sponsors?



That afternoon I headed down to start my Time Trial. Scott, Ryan, Patrick, and Nick where all racing with me. This was the first year for myself, Patrick, and Nick to do the big boy race. I wanted to break 10 minutes in my time trial, but finished just outside of that with a 10:02. I was the 2nd fastest on the team, but more importantly faster than Scott was. After the Time Trial we headed back home to rest and relax before the big day tomorrow. Friday morning we started out at 10 for a 110 mile road race. My legs felt decent, but it took me a good 2 hours before they really started to come around. My goal was to sit in on the group for as long as possible and try to hang on going over Mt. Gaylor on old hwy 71. Well I made it to Gaylor in the group, but as soon as we hit the bottom of the climb which was at mile 80 my legs cramped. I decided to ride my own pace up the hill and try and catch on over the top. I ended up riding a good time and got really close to catching the group at one point. I caught Scott and we road over the top of the mountain together with 3 other guys. At the top we had lost 4 minutes on the group and new we didn't have a chance to catch back on. We rode the remainder of the race trading pulls with everyone in our group until we reached Dixon street and that is where the real race began. Scott and I where racing against each other this weekend and had to sprint it out to the finish line up the hill. It was fun to have our own little race going. Saturday we had a 86 mile road race and boy did we suffer. We did an out route, 3 loops, then back. My goal again today was to sit in and try and finish with the group. I made it over the hill the first 2 times fine, but the 3rd time up I got into some bad positioning and couldn't hang on to the group. I ended up finishing 3 minutes behind the group, but more disappointing finished 3 minutes behind Scott. On another note a want to give a big thanks to my parents for coming out and giving us some feed on Friday and Saturday there is no way we could have made it with out you guys thanks a ton. Sunday the last day, but probably one of the hardest crits in the country. My goal of the day was to beat Scott and finish with the group 2 things that would be hard to do. The crit started out fast, but the suffering started out harder. About halfway threw our 80 something starters had been dwindled down rapidly. With 5 laps to go I popped off the back, but chased back on over the next two laps. I think the only reason I could do this is because I saw Scott suffering on the back and was trying to stay close enough to beat him. With 2 laps to go I popped off the back again and chased as hard as a I could. I could see the group and see that Scott was right there. With one lap to go I could see that Scott had popped off the back and new that I had a chance. I chased hard and caught him the last time up the hill. Finished the crit about a minute off of the group, but I beat Scott. Overall I had a good weekend and pushed myself as hard as I possibly could. We started out with 96 competitors on Thursday and finished with 60 something on Sunday.

This past week was pretty relaxed Michelle has been doing crossfit and I brought Peanut to work with me a couple days. She enjoys getting to go to the lake at lunch and swim as you can tell from this picture.





Peanut enjoying White Rock Lake



Next up for us is a big race this weekend. I have a Tuesday night MTB race and then Crits Thursday threw Monday. Doug and Cindy are coming down from NWA along with Nick from Conway to race this weekend. I will try to post an update next week. Until then thanks for reading and enjoy this nice weather.

Slacking on the updates, but we are alive.

It has been a few months since we have updated, but we are alive which is a good thing. Therefore I will leave you with a short overview of the past few months.

January

• I turned 26, man I am getting old.




Michelle's Birthday Gift to me New Road Shoes she really loves me!!!


• I went to our BMC team camp in NWA and had a blast hanging out with all of the new team members. I got my butt kicked due to the lack of fitness, but was surprised that I did as well as I did.
• Peanut finally got her snow and had a blast running around and flinging it all over the place.



Peanut on a ride with me in the Snow. She had a blast

• Mitch and Sarah came down to visit and we went to Billy Bobs to enjoy some 2 steeping and people watching. We also ate at an amazing steak house in the stockyards it was a blast.



Mitch and I outside Billy Bob's
On a side note I'm not sure how to rotate these picture's so either turn your monitor on the side or turn your head its your choice.



February

• Our washing machine house broke and leaked about and inch of water on the floor in the laundry room and the pantry. Luckily Michelle had just moved all of the paper towels off of the floor so nothing was ruined just made a huge mess.
• Michelle's parents came down to visit for a weekend. Her dad and I hung the cabinet in the laundry room and it looks great.
• I did my first race of the season in Mineral Wells Texas. It was a lot of fun to be able to get away for a weekend and see a little more of Texas. I had a crit Saturday morning which I placed 16th in then a TT that afternoon which I placed 15th in. On Sunday it was a 75 mile road race with some super windy conditions. I ended up finishing with the group around 20th or so. I think I finished 15th for the weekend, but I had a lot of fun. Thanks so much to my sweet wife for handing me water bottles on the Road Race i couldn't do it with out you.
• Michelle's eyes finally healed and she started making lasic appointments. She has been messing with her eyes for 2 years so it has been such a blessing for her to finally have them cleared up.

March

• We went to Bentonville the first weekend in March and got to see our family and a lot of friends. Saturday we went shooting in the morning and had a blast. Michelle shot really well and we had a blast even though it was freezing cold. After shooting we went to the Market Place with Mitch and Sarah and enjoyed jalapeno cheese fritters, cheese dip, BBQ chicken, chicken fried steak, and our favorite a Peanut Butter Chocolate mess. That evening we had a bunch of friends come over to my parents house to celebrate my favorite mother in laws birthday. I think she turned 30 so it was a big deal. Sunday we went to church and Sunday school and it was so good to see all of our friends that we haven't seen for several months. After church we went to Pinnacle for there Sunday brunch it is one of the best things you could eat and of course I ate way to much. After lunch we made the long car ride back to TX and got ready for the week.

This weekend we are heading to Tulsa for a bike race with most of the BMC team. This will be the first race with all of us there so it should be a blast. My parents and Michelle's parents are going to get to come over as well so it will be good to see them. I will try and post some pictures from the race this weekend. Until then have a great day.